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16 sentences with "ear"

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me your opinion concerning the following sentences?

1. The dog pricked up his ears.
2. We are all ears.
3. All you say to him goes in one ear and out at the other.
4. He turned a deaf ear to all our protest.
5. I shouldn’t like it to reach his ears.
6. His words are ringing in my ears.
7. We couldn’t say anything until they were out of ear-shot.
8. His ears must have been burning last night. Everybody was talking about him.
9. She pierced her ears.
10. I have an ear for music.
11. I like to play music by ear.
12. I lent an ear to that shady affair.
13. Ihave Obama’s ear.
14. The loud music grated on our ears.
15. The dog heard its name and perked up its ears
16. I perked upmy ears when I heard his name mentioned.

That's right, but it doesn't sound right with "that shady affair". I listened to that shady affair. Odd, since an affair is usually something that goes on over a period of time. I thought Vil might have had another meaning in mind.I lent an ear to her account of her troubles. OK.

There are also many other synonyms of the adjective “shady”: cool, dark, dim, leafy, shaded, shadow, crooked, dishonest, disreputable, dubious, fishy, questionable, slippery, suspect, suspicious, underhand, unethical, unscrupulous, untrustworthy. You may make free use of them.

Re: 16 sentences with "ear"

Originally Posted by vil

There are many different kinds of affair: a casual affair, a clandestine affair, a secret affair, a illicit affair, a love affair, a tempestuous affair.

That's what I mean. What does it mean to say that you listen to a love affair?
Also, affair can refer to other things, such as a shady business affair, a shady political affair.
I wouldn't object to "I lent an ear to her account of the shady affair", which is what Mr. Lockwood does with Nelly Dean in Wuthering Heights, for example.
Poetry is not good for taking examples of normal usage, since the whole idea of poetry is to create new ways of expressing things to make the reader see things in a different light. So, almost by definition, poetic language is unusual. Wouldn't you agree?

Re: 16 sentences with "ear"

Dear Raymott,

I think there are many pros and cons concerning the usage of the phrase in question. You made a convincing case in favor of your original statement.

My knock-down argument is my interpretation of the phrase “to lend one’s ear” namely “to give attention” . Do you see the tangible difference between the well-known “ to listen” and my “ to give attention”?

I beg yours pardon for my dogged persistence but being a language-nuts I had to get this straighten out on the spot so I made clear my position.